Xavier coach Sean Miller has emerged as the target of Texas’ basketball search, and a deal is expected to be completed in the near future, sources told ESPN on Sunday.
The Longhorns informed Rodney Terry earlier Sunday that he would not return to lead the program, and a formal announcement soon followed. Terry took over on an interim basis for Chris Beard in 2022, and was given the official job after leading Texas to the 2023 Elite Eight. He guided the Longhorns to the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons, but didn’t advance out of the first weekend in either year.
“This was a very difficult decision and one that we put a great deal of thought, consideration and discussion into as we evaluated where we are,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said in a statement, adding that “Coach Terry has led our program in a first-class manner, and we’ve accomplished some great things.”
Del Conte did extensive legwork on Miller before promoting Terry to the top spot in 2023, sources told ESPN.
Miller is a veteran head coach who has led teams to 13 NCAA tournament appearances in his career, including in two of the past three seasons at Xavier. Miller has won 487 games and brings a winning percentage of more than 71%.
Xavier defeated Texas in the First Four on Wednesday, erasing a 13-point deficit to win 86-80. The Musketeers shook off a 1-4 Big East start to reach the NCAA tournament, winning their final seven regular-season games and racking up victories over Marquette, UConn and Creighton. Xavier finished tied for fourth in the league at 13-7.
Miller had prolonged success as the head coach at Arizona, including four regular-season Pac-12 titles and three appearances in the Elite Eight. In his first stint at Xavier from 2004-05 through 2008-09, he led the school to four NCAA tournaments and an Elite Eight.
Xavier hired Miller back in 2022 after he was fired from Arizona in the wake of missing the NCAA tournament in 2019 and 2021. Miller’s success at Arizona waned amid the shroud of the federal basketball investigation, which included five Level 1 allegations against the school.
Miller, a Pittsburgh native, began his coaching career immediately after a four-year playing career at Pitt. He spent time as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio), Pitt, NC State and Xavier before being promoted to replace Thad Matta as the Musketeers’ head coach in 2004.
Del Conte has shown in recent searches in baseball, women’s basketball and football that he has a candidate lined up to take the job before firing the coach. For example, he hired Steve Sarkisian to be head football coach hours after firing Tom Herman in January 2021.
News of Miller’s emergence was first reported by the Austin American-Statesman.
